Challenges in a Voice-Acting Career

掃碼聽讀

Many articles online portray the life of voice acting as if actors are basking in their recording studio. It can be true to some extent—such as when a voice actor’s name is on the map1on the map〈習語〉出名。. And mostly it is false, as no business is dead easy2dead easy〈習語〉易如反掌。.

2Voice over job requires voice actors an ability to deliver a performance using only your vocal cords, a mastery of craft that requires a huge arsenal of talents, and a readiness and willingness to work at the drop of a hat3at the drop of a hat 不假思索地，毫不猶豫地。.

3Reality check4reality check 面對現實；反思現實。, let’s take a look behind the scenes of the amazing voices we hear over the radio.

It’s more than just sitting and speaking

4Let’s admit it, it’s usually the initial picture when we try to imagine how voice actors do their job—sitting in a booth for a couple of hours, effortlessly reciting the script to a microphone.Not to mention the burden of having to trudge off a casting agency just for an audition uncertain to lead into a paid job.

網上有不少文章描繪配音演員的生活，好像他們在錄音棚里活得輕松愜意。要是演員已經揚名立萬，這種說法可能有一定真實性。不過多數情況下，這純屬無稽之談，因為沒有哪個行業是特別輕松的。

2配音工作要求演員能夠僅憑聲帶完成表演，掌握這門技能需要具備很多才藝，并愿意隨時投入工作。

3反觀現實，讓我們了解一下廣播里聽到的美妙聲音背后的故事。

配音不只是坐著說話

4別不承認，我們想象配音演員工作的場景，腦中最初浮現的畫面往往是這樣——在錄音棚里坐上幾個小時，對著麥克風毫不費力地朗誦劇本。我們想不到配音演員的那種壓力，為了一場試音搞得疲憊不堪，步履沉重地離開選角機構，連能否通過這場試音獲得一份有報酬的工作都不確定。

5Nowadays, to produce a dope5dope 非常好的。voiceover recording still take in countless errands and tools, and yes—some traveling for some cases, added to the process of narrating the script. From mastering the vocal direction, simulating the character,prepping the equipment, editing the recording, and submitting it to the client,to revisions that involve conversing with the client. A voice actor who has worked overnight for a 4000-word script might feel exhausted when it’s time to polish his work.

Voice actors are always on call

6Whether actors are at his home studio or out of town for some beach party,some of them are still contactable by clients. At worst, sometimes clients need an urgent revision so voice actors sometimes allow work during a vacation so they have an on-the-go recording equipment to work a project right off the bat6off the bat 立刻，馬上。to help clients chase the deadline.

7When at home, least chances of delay could just be like waiting for the leaf blower guy to leave your street.

Voice actors can be put on standby—No Pay

8There are two scenarios for this.Mostly freelancers, voice actors’ status

5如今，要制作一段絕佳的配音，除了讀劇本的程序之外，仍得完成無數雜事，運用大量工具，是的——有時還得出差。配音演員不僅要掌握聲音要求、模仿角色、準備設備、編輯錄音、提交錄音給客戶，還要和客戶溝通修改錄音。為了一份4000 字的劇本通宵達旦，到了要潤色作品的時候，配音演員可能已經感到筋疲力盡了。

配音演員要隨叫隨到

6無論是在家錄音還是去城外參加海灘派對，有些配音演員仍要與客戶保持聯系。最糟糕的情況下，客戶可能需要緊急修改錄音，所以配音演員有時休假要預留出工作時間。為此，他們配有便攜式錄音設備，可以隨時工作，以便協助客戶趕在規定期限內完成項目。

7在家工作時，小概率事件也可能造成延誤，比如要等外面街上使用吹葉機清理落葉的環衛工人離開。

配音演員要無薪待命

8這有兩種情況。多數情況下，配音演員屬于自由職業者，沒有工作項目時的狀態稱為“待命”。當然，待命期間是不帶薪的，這和企業員工不一樣。

9Another case is when actors agree to reserve a day or two for a recording session. During that time, no one else can book them until they have been released from the project commitment. To add insult to the injury, there are clients who will reserve them like that and just let go of them if they are no longer needed.

Unless you are famous, your income has crutches

10If actors are non-celebrity, voice acting is not an easy profession to make an instant and steady living. An average voice actor takes many years of experience before they can have an annual income of at least $90,000. For starters,the lowest to get is $14,500 per year.

11Considering the expansion of the voice-over the market, competition is sky-high. The easier and more accessible things have become because of internet advent, the more people entered the industry, and the rest is history7the rest is history 后來的事是盡人皆知的。. It is rather more challenging today despite the help of technological advancement to extend your profile exposure.

It’s not true that voice actors’ face is not always shown

12A common misconception not just is called “avail” when they do not have a project to work on at the moment and of course, they are not paid for the avail days unlike corporate employees are.

9另一種情況是配音演員同意預留一兩天時間錄音。其間，其他任何人就不能再約該演員，直到當前項目任務完成后演員才能抽身。更糟糕的是，有些客戶以這種方式預約配音演員，但說不用就不用了。

演不出名錢袋不穩

10對籍籍無名的演員來說，配音并不是一份輕松、穩定、來錢快的職業。普通配音演員要積累數年工作經驗，年收入才能達到9 萬美元以上。新人的最低年收入只有14500 美元。

11由于配音市場擴張，這個行業競爭極為激烈。互聯網的出現降低了行業門檻，越來越多的人員涌入，后來的事就不用贅述了。而今，雖然技術進步有助于擴大個人曝光度，但想要出圈難上加難。

配音并非總不露臉

12

不僅是圈外人，連配音演員自己都常會有一種錯誤觀念，認為配音只用得上聲帶。其實，配音演員的面部表情對自身和客戶都很有價值。

13For them to actually be able to hit a stellar voiceover performance, the engagement of the facial expressions and body language are 2 main ingredients.

14To clients whose voiceover genre is animation or video games, believe it or not, some of them install a kind of performer surveillance camera in recording studios to capture movement they can use as a reference to animate their characters. Voice actor’s natural gestures as they bring the characters into life play an important role in the visual aspect of the product.

Just like the clients, they stick around

15Voice actors also experience being put in hang, affecting their productivity,working pace, turnaround rate. Some clients send out private auditions in an online casting site to multiple talents of their pick and come back after a week or a couple of weeks. Voice actors then submit their audition and do nothing but wait for the client’s go signal to work on the official project.

16Clients also have their busy schedule and it creates a barrier to their realtime communication with the talent.Often when they get late feedback from their people, they chase the same talent to work on revisions. On the actor’s part, they have no choice but to extend their service to their client even if it’s out of their schedule.

13演員若想呈現精彩的配音表演，必須加入面部表情和肢體語言這兩大要素。

14信不信由你，有些動畫和游戲配音客戶會在錄音棚里安裝一種類似監控攝像頭的東西，捕捉演員的動作，在創作動畫角色時用作參考。配音演員演繹角色時自然的肢體動作在作品的視覺呈現中發揮重要作用。

演員圍著客戶轉

15配音演員還會體驗被晾著的感覺，這會影響生產率、工作節奏和周轉率。一些客戶在選角網站上挑中數位配音演員，向其發出私人試音邀請，一周或幾周后才回來查看。配音演員提交試音，然后只能干等著客戶通知其加入正式項目。

16客戶的日程安排也很繁忙，這阻礙了他們與配音演員實時交流。往往是工作人員反饋晚了，還要找同一個配音演員來修改錄音。就演員而言，他們別無選擇，只能對客戶延長服務，即使這并不在他們的日程安排之內。

Some actors are hired just for breathing

17Sean Kenin, who pops up onFamilyGuyas the cackling, hyper “Tiny Tom Cruise,” is known in the business as a mimic. He can approximate well-known performers right down to how they sound when they’re gasping for air.

18Kenin is a living proof that some voice actors can be possibly hired just for breathing, grunting, different shades of dog barks, wind breezes, laughing,and more.

19This is not a problem at all, but it can be a liability8liability 麻煩，累贅。to expanding an actor’s skill set and getting more opportunities and can damage voices.

Vocal fatigue strike amidst a big project

20Vocal or voice over fatigue is a little acceptable but not during an ongoing big voice over a project. It’s a total mess if the actor’s voice becomes hoarse when you’re halfway on finishing a long script.

21They are likely torn to throwing in the towel9throw in the towel〈習語〉源于拳擊比賽，拳擊手扔毛巾即表示認輸。and informing the client about the trouble, or fighting tooth and nail10fight tooth and nail 竭盡全力。to do the impossible.

有些演員受雇僅因擅仿呼吸聲

17肖恩·凱寧以善于模仿在業界聞名，曾在《惡搞之家》中給精力旺盛、咯咯笑的“小湯姆·克魯斯”配音。他能惟妙惟肖地模仿知名演員的聲音，精細到喘氣聲。

18凱寧是一個活生生的例子，說明一些配音演員可能僅憑能模仿呼吸聲、呼嚕聲、不同的狗吠聲、風聲、笑聲等獲得工作機會。

19這本來不是問題，但卻可能成為配音演員的負擔，使他們難以擴展技能以爭取更多機會，而且這類模仿可能會損壞嗓音。

大項目期間嗓音疲勞

20演員在疲憊的狀態下配音勉強可以接受，但大型配音項目進行期間不能出現這種情況。如果一個長劇本配音過半，演員突然嗓子啞了，那情況將是一團糟。

21演員可能會糾結，是徹底認輸、向客戶說明情況，還是咬牙堅持、明知不可為而為之。

Replacing an injured microphone

22Having a damaged recording equipment is equally burdensome to losing an actor’s voice. Unless the actor is really planning ahead to upgrade their equipment, it’s costly and frustrating to invest in a new one because of an unwanted mishap11mishap 厄運；不幸事故。.

更換故障麥克風

22錄音設備損壞和演員失聲一樣麻煩。除非配音演員真的原本就打算升級錄音設備，否則由于意外故障購買新設備既費錢又令人懊喪。